Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed pushes against the tide

“Climate change issues are real to us,” President Mohamed Nasheed says
of the situation facing the Maldives. “This is not tomorrow’s events.
These are today’s real events.”

During his 20-year fight to bring democracy to the Maldives, Mohamed
Nasheed was arrested 12 times. He endured torture and exile. He was in
solitary confinement when his second daughter was born.

Then in 2008, the Islamic country held its first multiparty
presidential election and Nasheed, known as “Anni,” won by popular vote.
Immediately, however, he found himself fighting again for survival —
but for that of a nation.
Nasheed had essentially took helm of a sinking ship. As one of the
lowest-lying countries in the world — the average elevation is 1.5
metres above sea level — a rise of three feet in sea level would
submerge its 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean; some scientists fear it
could be underwater in less than 100 years.

“Climate change issues are real to us,” the 44-year-old president
said. “There is so much erosion, dwindling [fisheries], water
contamination because of sea water intrusion. This is not tomorrow’s
events. These are today’s real events.”

President Nasheed was in Toronto this weekend for the premiere of Jon Shenk’s documentary, The Island President,
at the Toronto International Film Festival. Shortly after he was
elected, he agreed to allow Shenk unparalleled access to his life. For a
year, the award-winning San Francisco filmmaker followed Nasheed as he
travelled around the world lobbying for reduced carbon emissions.
“He was a journalist,” Shenk said. “He used journalism to affect
change and even though he’s now a president, he hasn’t forgotten that
the power of a story in some ways trumps politics.”
Nasheed, who watched the film for the first time Saturday, said he found it to be “very true.”
“The country was going through a major transition from dictatorship
to democracy. Someone wanted to record that; I thought an extra pair of
eyes would be good,” he said. “Also, we want to know how we might be
able to impress the international community on climate change issues and
the gravity of it. To do that, we don’t have much money and if someone
was willing to do it in cinematography, we thought this was good.”

Nasheed is a small man with a relaxed aura that contradicts his
ramrod straight posture. He has a likability and sincerity that can be
illustrated in a BBC clip featured in the documentary: Nasheed is being
interviewed during the presidential campaign about the incumbent Maumoon
Abdul Gayoom. The camera is focused on his concentrated face.

“The president says he needs another term to see through his democratic reform,” the reporter says.
Upon hearing that, a puff of air blows up Nasheed’s cheeks and then
escapes from his lips. “Um, well, he’s already had 30 years,” he says,
stifling his laughter, “and we really can’t quite see how and what else
he is going to do with another five years.”

“I love that clip,” Shenk said. “It’s so indicative of someone living in the moment. … He’s very human.”

The film culminates at the climate change summit in Copenhagen in
November 2009 where Shenk and his crew were accredited as part of the
official Maldives delegation. This afforded them a rare
behind-the-scenes look at the jockeying between leaders and of course,
Nasheed’s very honest reactions (“I’m really going to lose it if these
bureaucrats keep bickering endlessly about the text”).
“It’s fascinating to watch world politics,” Shenk said. “Whenever
world leaders meet, there’s this dance they do, they shake each other’s
hands and the cameras flick away. The real meat of the meeting happens
behind closed doors. But in Nasheed’s case, he literally would walk up
to people and he would immediately start discussing the hard issues. The
leaders oftentimes were completely caught off guard. At the end of the
day, I think he just wants to get down to work.”
Nasheed, who pledged to make the Maldives the first country to go
carbon neutral within a decade, is credited with coaxing India and China
to soften their stance on the issue.

“For India and China, there are a lot of questions of pride and
sovereignty,” he said. “The United States or Europe cannot tell them to
go and do something. You are conceding to them when you do something
they ask. It’s a very different story when we ask them to do something.
It’s not a conspiracy against their development. They’re very receptive
when they understand that we have something to lose.”

Not one to mince words, Nasheed is blunt about what that something
is. A journalist asks Nasheed in the film: If the conference doesn’t
achieve its goals and sea levels rise, what options are there for the
Maldives?

Nasheed is leaning on his elbow, his face in his palm. He looks the
journalist square in the eye and says: “None. We will all die.”